PR 3732 



1892a 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

00002644333 



> * 








,*'■ 









W 






'V 



*-.<j* 

V 



«°.<v 





% "••■' *\ ... *<. 







C *-T7i* .,0 



# ^ 







" W>' jP V *™ •* .<r *H* ** .^* 



»* •'••- *> 














♦• 











<W • 






A*** • 


















V' ..i^L'* <?, 






**' *« • 



>.♦ jr~*+'*m-s+ *♦. 







«,. *♦ * % *S^. ^ ^ *Wa^ ^ ^ 









«^ 






SPRING 



JAMES THOMSON 



ILLUSTRATED 



5 1 



goston 

ESTES AND LAURIAT 

PUBLISHERS 



\'0 



Copyright, 1892, 
By ESTES AND LAURIAT. 



Typography by J S. dishing & Co., Boston. 
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 




* X. 



SPRING. 



COME, gentle Spring, ethereal mildness, 
come : 
And from the bosom of yon dropping cloud. 
While music wakes around, veiled in a shower 
Of shadowing roses, on our plains descend. 

O Hertford, fitted or to shine in courts 
With unaffected grace, or walk the plain 
7 



«T1h' .$• en oons. 

With innocence and meditation joined 
In sot'i assemblage, listen to m\ song, 
Which thy own season paints; when nature 

all 
Is blooming and benevolent like thee. 

And see where surly Winterpasses off, 
Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts: 
His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill, 
The shattered forest, and the ravaged vale; 
\Yh : " \tr gales succeed, at whose kind 

.ouch, 
living snows in livid torrents lost, 
i he mountains lift their green heads to the 

sky. 
As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed, 
And Winter ofl at eve resumes the bree e, 
Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving 

sleets 
Deform the day delightless: so that scarce 
The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulfed, 
To shake the sounding marsh ; or from the 

shore 
The plovers when to scatter o'er the heath. 
And sing their wild notes to the listening 

waste. S 



Spring. 

At la .1 from Aries rolls the bount< 
And the bright bull dm. 'I hen no 

more 
'I he i cramped with 

coldj 
But, full of life and vivifying soul, 
Lifts the lighl clouds tublime, and spreads 

them thin, 
Fleei y,and ■■■ Int.-. o'er all-surrounding he; 
I- orth fly the tepid airs : ami fin< 

Unbinding earth, the moving soft s. 

Joyou . Hi<; impatienl husbandman p 
R( [enting nature, and his lusl 

from theii stalls, to where the well- 
used plough 
Lie in the furrow, loosened from the fro 
There, unrefusing, to the harne 
'I hey lend their shoulder, and begin their 

toil, 
Cheered by the simple song and soaring lark. 
Meanwhile in< umbenl o'er the shining share 
'I he ma »tei leans, o-ino-. e - the ob >ti u< ting 

clay, 
Wind-, the whole work, and sidelong la; 

glebe. 9 



Clir Seasons. 



White, through the neighbouring fields the 

sower stalks. 
With measured stop; and. liberal, throws the 

grain 
Into the faithful bosom of the ground; 
The harrow follows harsh, and shuts the 
scene. 
Be gracious, Heaven! for now laborious 
man 
Has done his part. Ye fostering breezes, 

blow ! 
Ye softening dews, ye tender showers, de- 
scend ! 
And temper all. thou world-reviving sun, 
Into the perfect year ! Nor ye who live 
In luxury and ease, in pomp and pride. 
Think these last themes unworthy o\ your 

ear : 
Such themes as these the rural Maro sung 
To wide-imperial Rome, in the full height 
Of elegance and taste, by Greece refined. 
In ancient times the sacred plough employed 
The kings and awful fathers of mankind : 
And some, with whom compared your insect- 
tribes 10 



Spring. 

Are but the beings of a summer's day, 

Have held the scale of empire, ruled the storm 

Of mighty war; then, with victorious hand, 

Disdaining little delicacies, seized 

The plough, and, greatly independent, scorned 

All the vile stores corruption can bestow. 

Ye generous Britons, venerate the plough ; 
And o'er your hills, and long withdrawing 

vales, 
Let Autumn spread his treasures to the sun, 
Luxuriant and unbounded ! As the sea, 
Far through his azure turbulent domain, 
Your empire owns, and from a thousand shores 
Wafts all the pomp of life into your ports ; 
So with superior boon may your rich soil. 
Exuberant, Nature's better blessings pour 
O'er every land, the naked nations clothe, 
And be the exhaustless granary of a world ! 

Nor only through the lenient air this change, 
Delicious, breathes ; the penetrative sun, 
His force deep-darting to the dark retreat 
Of vegetation, sets the steaming power 
At large, to wander o'er the vernant earth, 
In various hues ; but chiefly thee, gay green, 
L3 



Erje Reasons. 



Thou smiling nature's universal robe ! 
United light and shade ! where the sight 

dwells 
With growing strength and ever-new delight. 
From the moist meadow to the withered 

hill, 
Led by the breeze, the vivid verdure runs, 
And swells and deepens to the cherished eye. 
The hawthorn whitens ; and the juicy groves 
Put forth their buds, unfolding by degrees, 
Till the whole leafy forest stands displayed, 
In full luxuriance, to the sighing gales ; 
Where the deer rustle through the twining 

brake, 
And the birds sing concealed. At once, 

arrayed 
In all the colours of the flushing year, 
By nature's swift and secret working hand, 
The garden glows, and fills the liberal air 
With lavish fragrance; while the promised 

fruit 
Lies yet a little embryo, unperceived, 
Within its crimson folds . Now from the town 
Buried in smoke and sleep and noisome damps, 
14 



Spring. 

Oft let me wander o'er the dewy fields, 
Where freshness breathes, 




And dash the trembling drops 
From the bent bush, as through the verdant 
maze 



tf"lu* Seasons, 

01 sweetbrier hedges 1 pursue my walk; 
Or taste the smell of dairy; or ascend 
Some eminence, Augusta, in tin plains, 
Ami sco the country, far diffused around, 
One boundless blush, one white-empurpled 

shower 
( )f mingled blossoms ; where the raptured e) e 
Hurries from joy to joy, and, hid beneath 
The fair profusion, yellow Autumn spies. 
It, brushed from Russian wilds, a cutting 

gale 
Rise not, and scatter from his humid wings 
The clammy mildew ; or, dry-blowing, breathe 
Untimely frost ; before whose baleful blasl 
The full-blown Spring through all her foliage 

shrinks. 

Joyless ami dead, a wide-dejected waste. 
For oft, engendered by the hazj North, 
Myriads on myriads, insect-armies waft 
Keen in the poisoned breeze ; ami wasteful oat. 
Through buds ami bark, into the blackened 

core, 
Their eager way. A feeble race, yet oft 
The sacred sons of vengeance; on whose 

course to 



■Spring. 

Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year. 

'•<!; this plague, the skilful fanner chaff 

And blazing straw before his ore. hard burns; 

Till, all involved in smoke, the latent foe 

From every i raony suffocated falls ; 

ilic blooms il)<-' pungent dust 

Of pepper, fatal to the frosty tribe; 

Or, when the envenomed leaf begins to curl, 

With sprinkled water drowns them in their 
nest ; 

Nor, while they pick them up with busy hill, 

The little trooping birds unwisely scares. 
Be patient, swains; these cruel-seeming 
winds 

Blow not in vain, far hence they keep, re- 
pressed, 

Those deepening clouds on clouds, surcharged 
with rain, 

That, o'er the vast Atlantic hither home. 

In endless train, would quench the summer- 
hla/e. 

And, cheerless, drown the crude unripened 

year. 
The Northeast spends his rage : and now, 
shut up 17 



3Tfjr Srasons. 



Within his iron caves, the effusive South 
Warms the wide air, and o'er the void of heaven 
Breathes the big clouds with vernal showers 

distent. 
At first a dusky wreath they seem to rise, 
Scarce staining ether; but by fast degrees, 
In heaps on heaps, the doubling vapour sails 
Along the loaded sky. and, mingling deep, 
Sits on the horizon round a settled gloom : 
Not such as wintry storms on mortals shed, 
Oppressing life; but lovely, gentle, kind, 
And full of every hope and every joy, 
The wish of Nature. Gradual sinks the breeze 
Into a perfect calm ; that not a breath 
Is heard to quiver through the closing woods, 
Or rustling turn the many-twinkling leaves 
Of aspen tall. The uncurling floods, diffused 
In glassy breadth, seem through delusive lapse 
Forgetful of their course. T is silence all. 
And pleasing expectation. Herds and flocks 
Drop the dry sprig, and, mute-imploring, eye 
The falling verdure. Hushed in short sus- 
pense, 
The plumy people streak their wings with oil. 
18 



Spring. 




To 111 row the lucid moisture trickling off; 
And wait the approaching sign to strike, at 

once, 
Into tiie general choir. Even mountains. 

vales, 19 



CTjjr Seasons. 



And forests seem, impatient, to demand 
The promised sweetness . Man superior walks 
Amid the glad creation, musing praise, 
And looking lively gratitude. At last, 
The clouds consign their treasures to the fields. 
And. softly shaking on the dimpled pool 
Prelusive drops, let all their moisture flow, 
In large effusion, o'er the freshened world. 
The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard. 
By such as wander through the forest-walks. 
Beneath the umbrageous multitude of leaves. 
But who can hold the shade, while heaven de- 
scends 
In universal bounty, shedding herbs 
And fruits and flowers on Nature's ample lap? 
Swift fancy hied anticipates their growth ; 
And. while the milky nutriment distils. 
Beholds the kindling country colour round. 

Thus all day long the full-distended clouds 
Indulge their genial stores, and well-showered 

earth 
Is deep enriched with vegetable life ; 
Till, in the western sky. the downward sun 
Looks out, effulgent, from amid the flush 
20 



Spring. 



Of broken clouds, gay-shifting to his beam. 
The rapid radiance instantaneous strikes 
The illumined mountain, through the forest- 
streams, 
Shakes on the floods, and in a yellow mist, 
Far smoking o'er the interminable plain, 
In twinkling myriads lights the dewy gems. 
Moist, bright, and green, the landskip laughs 

around. 
Full swell the woods ; their every music wakes, 
Mixed in wild concert, with the warbling 

brooks 
Increased, the distant bleatings of the hills. 
The hollow lows responsive from the vales. 
Whence, blending all, the sweetened zephyr 

springs. 
Meantime, refracted from yon eastern cloud, 
Bestriding earth, the grand ethereal bow 
Shoots up immense ; and every hue unfolds, 
In fair proportion, running from the red 
To where the violet fades into the sky. 
Here, awful Newton, the dissolving clouds 
Form, fronting on the sun, thy showery prism ; 
And to the sage-instructed eye unfold 
23 



flHir Seasons. 



The various twine of light, by thee disclosed 
From the white mingling maze. Not so the 

swain ; 
He, wondering, views the bright enchantment 

bend. 
Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and runs 
To catch the falling glory ; but, amazed. 
Beholds the amusive arch before him fly, 
Then vanish quite away. Still night succeeds, 
A softened shade, and saturated earth 
Awaits the morning beam, to give to light, 
Raised through ten thousand different plastic 

tubes. 
The balmy treasures of the former day. 

Then spring the living herbs, profusely wild 
O'er all the deep-green earth, beyond the 

power 
Of botanist to number up their tribes: 
Whether he steals along the lonely dale. 
In silent search ; or through the forest, rank 
With what the dull incurious weeds account. 
Bursts his blind way : or climbs the mountain 

rock. 
Fired by the nodding verdure of its brow. 
^4 



Spring. 

With such a liberal hand has Nature flung 
Their seeds abroad, blown them about in 

winds, 
[nnumerous mixed them with the nursing 

mould, 
The moistening current, and prolific rain. 
But who their virtues can declare? Who 

pierce, 
With vision pure, into these secret stores 







(2 In- Seasons, 

Of health, and life, and J03 ? the food of man, 
While yet he lived in innocence, and told 
A length of golden years, unfleshed in blood, 
A stranger to the savage arts of life, 
Death, rapine, carnage, surfeit, ami disease, 
The lord, ami not the tyrant, of the world. 
The first fresh dawn then waked the glad- 
dened race 
Of un corrupted man. nor blushed to see 
The sluggard sleep beneath its sacred beam. 
For their light slumbers gentl} fumed awa\ ; 
Ami up they rose as vigorous as the sun. 
Or to the culture of the willing glebe, 
Or to the cheerful tendance of the flock. 
Meantime the song went round : ami dance 

ami sport. 
Wisdom ami friendly talk, successive stole 
Their hours away. While in the rosy vale 
1 ove breathed his infant sighs, from anguish 
free. 

Ami full replete with bliss: save the sweet 

pain. 
That, inly thrilling, hut exalts it more. 
Nor vet injurious act. nor surly deed, 

JO 



Spring. 

Was known among these happj 

Hea 
For rea ;on and benevolent e were b 
I [armoniou -. Nature too looked smiling on. 
( [ear shone 1 1"- skie >, ( ooled with eternal 

gale . 
And balmy spirit all. The youthful sun 
Shot, his best rays, and -.till the gracious 

cloud . 
Dropped fatness <lov. n ; as o'ei the swelling 

mead 
The herds and flocks, commixing, played se- 

i no-. 
This when, emergenl from the gloomy wood, 
The glaring lion saw, his horrid hearl 
\V;i i tneekened, and he joined his sullen joy. 
For music held the whole in perfed pea< 
Soft sighed the flute; the tender voice was 

heard, 
Warbling the varied heart; the woodlands 

round 
Applied their choir; and winds and waters 

flowed 
In consonance. Such were those prime of 
27 



iZTiic Season*, 



But now those white unblemished man- 
ners, whence 
The fabling poets took their golden age, 
Are found no more amid these iron times. — 
These dregs o( life! Now the distempered 

mind 
Has lost that concord of harmonious powers 
Which forms the soul of happiness ; and all 
Is off the poise within : the passions all 
Have burst their bounds: and reason half ex- 
tinct. 
Or impotent, or else approving, sees 
The foul disorder. Senseless and deformed, 
Convulsive anger storms at large ; or. pale 
And silent, settles into tell revenge. 
Base envy withers at another's joy. 
And hates that excellence it cannot reach. 
Desponding tear. o\ feeble fancies full. 
Weak ami unmanly, loosens every power. 
Even love itself is bitterness of soul, 
A pensive anguish pining at the heart : 
Or, sunk to sordid interest, feels no more 
That noble wish, that never cloved desire, 
Which, selfish joy disdaining, seeks alone 
28 



spring. 



To bless i he dearer obje< i of its flame. 
Hope sickens with extravagance; and grief, 
Of life impatient, into madness swells ; 
Or in dead silence wastes the weeping hours. 
These, and a thousand mixl emotions more, 
From ever-changing views of good and ill, 
Formed infinitely various, vex the mind 
With endless storm. Whence, deeply rank- 
ling, grows 
The partial thought, a listless unconcern, 
Cold, and averting from our neighbour's good ; 
Then dark disgusl and hatred, winding wiles, 
Coward deceit, and ruffian violence. 
At last, extinct each social feeling, fell 
And joyless inhumanity pervades 
And petrifies the heart. Nature disturbed 
Is deemed, vindictive, to have changed her 



When the deep-cleft disparting orb, that 

arched 
The central waters round, impetuous rushed, 
With universal hurst, into the gulf, 
3 1 



GTfic Seasons. 



Ami o'er the high-piled hills of fractured 

earth 
Wide dashed the waves, in undulation vast ; 
Till, from the centre to the streaming clouds, 
A shoreless ocean tumbled round the globe. 

The seasons since have, with severer sway. 
Oppressed a broken world: the Winter keen 
Shook forth his waste of snows; and Summer 

shot 
His pestilential heats. Great Spring, before, 
Greened all the year; and fruits and blos- 
soms blushed, 
In social sweetness, on the selfsame bough. 
Pure was the temperate air; an even calm 
Perpetual reigned, save what the zephyrs 

bland 
Breathed o'er the blue expanse: for then nor 

storms 
Were taught to blow, nor hurricanes to rage ; 
Sound slept the waters ; no sulphureous 

glooms 
Swelled in the sky, and sent the lightning 

forth ; 
W r hile sickly damps, and cold autumnal logs, 
32 



spring. 

Hung not, relaxing, on the springs of life. 
But now, of turbid elements the sport, 
From clear to cloudy tost, from hot to cold, 
And dry to moist, with inward-eating change, 
Our drooping days are dwindled down to 

naught, 
Their period finished ere 7 t is well begun. 
And yet the wholesome herb neglected 
dies ; 
Though with the pure exhilarating soul 
Of nutriment and health, and vital powers, 
Beyond the search of art, 't is copious blest. 
For, with hot ravine fired, ensanguined man 
Is now become the lion of the plain, 
And worse. The wolf, who from the nightly 

fold 
Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk 

her milk, 
Nor wore her warming fleece : nor has the 

steer, 
At whose strong chest the deadly tiger hangs, 
E'er ploughed for him. They too are tem- 
pered high. 



33 



(die Reasons. 



Nor lodges pity in their shaggy breast. 

Bu1 man, whom Nature formed of milder 

clay. 
With every kind emotion in his heart, 
And taught alone to wee]) — while from her 

lap 
She pours ten thousand delicacies, herbs, 
And fruits, as numerous as the drops of rain 
Or beams that gave them birth — shall he, 

fair form, 
Who wears sweet smiles, and looks erect on 

heaven. 
E'er stoop to mingle with the prowling herd. 
And dip his tongue in gore? The beast of 

prey, 
Blood-stained, deserves to bleed: but you, 

ye flocks. 
What have ye done; ye peaceful people, 

what, 
To merit death? You, who have given us 

milk 
In luscious streams, and lent us your own 

eoat 
Against the Winter's cold ? And the plain ox, 
34 



V 




1 


w^ 









Spring. 

That harmless, honest, guileless animal, 
In what has he offended? He, whose toil, 
Patient and ever ready, clothes the land 
With all the pomp of harvest, — shall he 

bleed, 
And struggling groan beneath the cruel hands 
Even of the clowns he feeds ? And that, per- 
haps, 
To swell the riot of the autumnal feast, 
Won by his labour? This the feeling heart 
Would tenderly suggest : but 't is enough, 
In this late age. adventurous, to have touched 
Light on the numbers of the Samian sage. 
High Heaven forbids the bold presumptuous 

strain, 
Whose wisest Will has fixed us in a state 
That must not yet to pure perfection rise. 
Besides, who knows, how, raised to higher 

life, 
From stage to stage, the vital scale ascends ? 
Now when the first foul torrent of the 
brooks, 
Swelled with the vernal rains, is ebbed away ; 
And, whitening, down their mossy-tinctured 
stream yj 



<Thc Seajams, 



Descends the billowy foam; now is the time. 
While yet the dark-brown water aids the guile, 
To tempt the trout. The well-dissembled fly, 
The rod fine-tapering with elastic spring, 
Snatched from the hoary steed the floating 

line. 
And all thy slender watery stores, prepare. 
But let not on thy hook the tortured worm. 
Convulsive, twist in agonising folds: 
Which, by rapacious hunger swallowed deep. 
Gives as you tear it from the bleeding breast 
Of the weak, helpless, uncomplaining wretch. 
Harsh pain and horror to the tender hand. 
When, with his lively ray. the potent sun 
Has pierced the streams, and roused the finny 

race. 
Then, issuing cheerful, to thy sport repair; 
Chief should the western breezes curling play. 
Ami light o'er ether hear the shadowy clouds. 
High to their fount, this day. amid the hills, 
And woodlands warbling round, trace up the 

brooks : 
The next, pursue their rocky-channelled maze, 
Down to the river, in whose ample wave 
38 



living. 




Their little Naiads love to sport at large. 
lust in the dubious point, where with the pool 
Is mixed the trembling stream, or where it 
boils 

Around the stone, or from the hollowd bank, 
39 



Wfyz Reasons, 



Reverted plays in undulating flow, 
There throw, nice-judging, the delusive fly ; 
And, as you lead it round in artful curve, 
With eye attentive mark the springing game. 
Straight as above the surface of the flood 
They wanton rise, or urged by hunger leap, 
Then fix, with gentle twitch, the barbed hook : 
Some lightly tossing to the grassy bank. 
And to the shelving shore slow dragging some, 
With various hand proportioned to their force. 
If yet too young, and easily deceived, 
A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod. 
Him, piteous of his youth, and the short space 
He has enjoyed the vital light of Heaven, 
Soft disengage, and back into the stream 
The speckled infant throw. But should you 

lure 
From his dark haunt, beneath the tangled roots 
Of pendent trees, the monarch of the brook, 
Behoves you then to ply your finest art. 
Long time he, following cautious, scans the fly ; 
And oft attempts to seize it, but as oft 
The dimpled water speaks his jealous fear. 
At last, while haply o'er the shaded sun 
40 



Sprfwj. 

Passes a cloud, he desperate takes the death, 
With sullen plunge. At once he darts along. 
Deep-struck, and runs out all the lengthened 

line ; 
Then seeks the farthest ooze, the sheltering 

weed, 
The caverned bank, his old secure abode ; 
And flies aloft, and flounces round the pool, 
Indignant of the guile. With yielding hand, 
That feels him still, yet to his furious course 
Gives way, you, now retiring, following now 
Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage ; 
Till floating broad upon his breathless side, 
And to his fate abandoned, to the shore 
You gayly drag your unresisting prize. 

Thus pass the temperate hours : but when 
the sun 
Shakes from his noonday throne the scatter- 
ing clouds, 
Even shooting listless languor through the 

deeps. 
Then seek the bank where flowering elders 

crowd. 
Where scattered wild the lily of the vale 
41 



(Pje Seasons. 



Its balmy essence breathes, where cowslips 

hang 
The dewy head, where purple violets lurk, 
With all the lowly children of the shade : 
Or lie reclined beneath yon spreading ash, 
Hung o'er the steep ; whence, borne on liquid 

wing, 
The sounding culver shoots ; or where the 

hawk. 
High in the beetling cliff, his eyry builds. 
There let the classic page thy fancy lead 
Through rural scenes ; such as the Mantuan 

swain 
Paints in the matchless harmony of song ; 
Or catch thyself the landskip, gliding swift 
Athwart imagination's vivid eye ; 
Or, by the vocal woods and waters lulled, 
And lost in lonely musing, in a dream, 
Confused, of careless solitude, where mix 
Ten thousand wandering images of things, 
Soothe every gust of passion into peace — 
All but the swellings of the softened heart, 
That waken, not disturb, the tranquil mind. 
Behold, yon breathing prospect bids the 

Muse 42 



Throw all her beauty forth. But who can 

paint 
Like Nature ? Can imagination boast, 
Amid its gay creation, hues like hers? 
Or can it mix them with that matchless skill, 
And lose them in each other, as appears 
In every bud that blows? If fancy then. 
Unequal, fails beneath the pleasing task, 
Ah, what shall language do? Ah. where find 

words 
Tinged with so many colours ; and whose 

power, 
To life approaching, may perfume my lays 
With that fine oil, those aromatic gales, 
That inexhaustive flow continual round? 

Yet, though successless, will the toil delight. 
Come then, ye virgins, and ye youths, whose 

hearts 
Have felt the raptures of refining love ; 
And thou, Amanda, come, pride of my song! 
Formed by the Graces, loveliness itself ! 
Come with those downcast eyes, sedate and 

sweet, 
Those looks demure, that deeply pierce the 

soul — 45 



2Tfjc Seasons. 



Where, with the light of thoughtful reason 

mixed, 
Shines lively fancy and the feeling heart : 
O come! and while the rosy-footed May 
Steals blushing on, together let us tread 
The morning dews, and gather in their prime 
Fresh-blooming flowers, to grace thy braided 

hair, 
And thy loved bosom that improves their 

sweets. 
See where the winding vale its lavish stores, 
Irriguous, spreads. See, how the lily drinks 
The latent rill, scarce oozing through the 

grass, 
Of growth luxuriant ; or the humid bank, 
In fair profusion, decks. Long let us walk. 
Where the breeze blows from yon extended 

field 
Of blossomed beans. Arabia cannot boast 
A fuller gale of joy than, liberal, thence 
Breathes through the sense, and takes the 

ravished soul. 
Nor is the mead unworthy of thy foot ; 
Full of fresh verdure, and unnumbered flowers, 
' 46 



The negligence of Nature, wide, and wild ; 
Where, undisguised by mimic art, she spreads 
Unbounded beauty to the roving eye. 
Here their delicious task the fervent bees, 
In swarming millions, tend. Around, athwart, 
Through the soft air, the busy nations fly, 




2Hk Reasons. 



Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube, 
Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul. 
And oft, with bolder wing, they, soaring, dare 
The purple heath, or where the wild thyme 

grows, 
And yellow load them with the luscious spoil. 

At length the finished garden to the view 
Its vistas opens, and its alleys green. 
Snatched through the verdant maze, the hur- 
ried eye 
Distracted wanders ; now the bowery walk 
Of covert close, where scarce a speck of day 
Falls on the lengthened gloom, protracted 

sweeps ; 
Now meets the bending sky, the river now 
Dimpling along, the breezy ruffled lake. 
The forest darkening round, the glittering 

spire, 
The ethereal mountain, and the distant main. 
But why so far excursive? when at hand, 
Along these blushing borders, bright with 

dew, 
And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers, 
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace : 



spring. 



Throws out the snowdrop and the crocus first ; 
The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue, 
And polyanthus of unnumbered dyes ; 
The yellow wall-flower, stained with iron 

brown ; 
And lavish stock that scents the garden round. 
From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed, 
Anemones ; auriculas, enriched 
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves ; 
And full renunculas, of glowing red. 
Then comes the tulip-race, where Beauty plays 
Her idle freaks : from family diffused 
To family, as flies the father-dust, 
The varied colours run ; and, while they break 
On the charmed eye, the exulting florist marks, 
With secret pride, the wonders of his hand. 
No gradual bloom is wanting ; from the bud, 
First-born of Spring, to Summer's musky 

tribes : 
Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white, 
Low-bent, and blushing inward ; nor jonquils, 
Of potent fragrance ; nor narcissus fair, 
As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still ; 
Nor broad carnations ; nor gay-spotted pinks ; 
5i 



Wqt Reasons. 



Nor, showered from every bush, the damask- 
rose. 
Infinite numbers, delicacies, smells. 
With hues on hues expression cannot paint, 
The breath of Nature, and her endless bloom. 

Hail, Source of Beings! Universal Soul 
Of heaven and earth ! Essential Presence, 

hail ! 
To Thee I bend the knee ; to Thee my 

thoughts, 
Continual, climb ; who, with a master-hand, 
Hast the great whole into perfection touched. 
By Thee the various vegetative tribes, 
Wrapt in a filmy net, and clad with leaves, 
Draw the live ether, and imbibe the dew. 
By Thee disposed into congenial soils, 
Stands each attractive plant, and sucks, and 

swells 
The juicy tide, — a twining mass of tubes . 
At Thy command the vernal sun awakes 
The torpid sap, detruded to the root 
By wintry winds, that now in fluent dance, 
And lively fermentation, mounting, spreads 
All this innumerous-coloured scene of things. 
52 



Spring, 



As rising from the vegetable world 
My theme ascends, with equal wing ascend, 
My panting Muse : and hark, how loud the 

woods 
Invite you forth in all your gayest trim. 
Lend me your song, ye nightingales! O, pour 
The mazy-running soul of melody 
Into my varied verse! while I deduce, 
From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings, 
The symphony of Spring, and touch a theme 
Unknown to fame, — the passion of the groves. 

When first the soul of love is sent abroad, 
Warm through the vital air, and on the heart 
Harmonious seizes, the gay troops begin. 
In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing ; 
And try again the long-forgotten strain. 
At first faint-warbled. But no sooner grows 
The soft infusion prevalent and wide, 
Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows 
In music unconfined. Upsprings the lark, 
Shrill-voiced and loud, the messenger of morn : 
Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted sings 
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their 
haunts 

53 



5Djjc Reasons. 



Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copse 
Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush 
Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads 
Of the coy choristers that lodge within. 
Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush 
And wood-lark, o'er the kind-contending 

throng 
Superior heard, run through the sweetest 

length 
Of notes ; when listening Philomena deigns 
To let them joy, and purposes, in thought 
Elate, to make her night excel their day. 
The blackbird whistles from the thorny 

brake ; 
The mellow bulfinch answers from the grove : 
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze 
Poured out profusely, silent. Joined to these, 
tnnumerous songsters, in the freshening shade 
Of new-sprung leaves, their modulations mix 
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the claw. 
And each harsh pipe, discordant heard alone, 
Aid the full concert : while the stock-dove 

breathes 
A melancholy murmur through the whole. 
54 



spring. 

1 T is love creates their melody, and all 
This waste of music is the voice of love ; 
That even to birds, and beasts, the tender 

arts 
Of pleasing teaches. Hence the glossy kind 
Try every winning way inventive love 
Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates 
Pour forth their little souls. First, wide 

around, 
With distant awe. in airy rings they rove, 
Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch 
The cunning, conscious, half-averted glance 
Of their regardless charmer. Should she 

seem. 
Softening, the least approvance to bestow. 
Their colours burnish, and. by hope inspired. 
They brisk advance ; then, on a sudden 

struck, 
Retire disordered ; then again approach ; 
In fond rotation spread the spotted wing, 
And shiver every feather with desire. 

Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep 

woods 
They haste away, all as their fancy leads. 
57 



dHje Seasons. 



Pleasure, or food, or secret safety prompts. 
That Nature's great command may be obeyed, 
For all the sweet sensations they perceive 
Indulged in vain. Some to the holly-hedge 
Nestling repair, and to the thicket some ; 
Some to the rude protection of the thorn 
Commit their feeble offspring. The cleft 

tree 
Offers its kind concealment to a few, 
Their food its insects, and its moss their 

nests. 
Others, apart, far in the grassy dale, 
Or roughening waste, their humble texture 

weave. 
But most in woodland solitudes delight, 
In unfrequented glooms, or shaggy banks, 
Steep, and divided by a babbling brook, 
Whose murmurs soothe them all the livelong 

day, 
When by kind duty fixed. Among the roots 
Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream. 
They frame the first foundation of their 

domes ; 
Dry sprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid, 
58 



spring. 




And bound with clay together. Now 't is 

naught 
But restless hurry through the bus}- air. 
Beat by unnumbered wings. The swallow 

sweeps 

59 



OTfje Seasons. 



The slimy pool, to build his hanging house 
Intent. And often, from the careless back 
Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills 
Pluck hair and wool ; and oft, when unob- 
served, 
Steal from the barn a straw ; till soft and 

warm, 
Clean and complete, their habitation grows. 

As thus the patient dam assiduous sits, 
Not to be tempted from her tender task 
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight, 
Though the whole loosened Spring around 

her blows, 
Her sympathising lover takes his stand 
High on the opponent bank, and ceaseless 

sings 
The tedious time away ; or else supplies 
Her place a moment, while she sudden flits 
To pick the scanty meal. The appointed 

time 
With pious toil fulfilled, the callow young, 
Warmed and expanded into perfect life, 
Their brittle bondage break, and come to 
light ; 

60 



A helpless family, demanding food 

With constant clamour. O, what passions 

then, 
What melting sentiments of kindly care, 
On the new parents seize! Away they fly, 
Affectionate, and, undesiring, bear 
The most delicious morsel to their young, 
Which equally distributed, again 
The search begins. Even so a gentle pair, 
By fortune sunk, but formed of generous 

mould, 
And charmed with cares beyond the vulgar 

breast, 
In some lone cot amid the distant woods, 
Sustained alone by providential Heaven, 
Oft, as they, weeping, eye their infant train, 
Check their own appetites, and give them all. 

Nor toil alone they scorn : exalting love, 
By the great Father of the Spring inspired, 
Gives instant courage to the fearful race, 
And to the simple, art. With stealthy wing, 
Should some rude foot their woody haunts 

molest, 
Amid a neighbouring bush they silent drop, 
61 



Cfje Reasons, 



And whirring thence, as if alarmed, deceive 
The unfeeling school-boy. Hence, around the 

head 
Of wandering swain, the white-winged plover 

wheels 
Her sounding flight, and then directly on 
In long excursion skims the level lawn, 
To tempt him from her nest. The wild-duck, 

hence, 
O'er the rough moss, and o'er the trackless 

waste 
The heath-hen flutters (pious fraud !) to lead 
The hot pursuing spaniel far astray. 

Be not the Muse ashamed, here to bemoan 
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant man 
Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage 
From liberty confined, and boundless air. 
Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull, 
Ragged, and all its brightening lustre lost ; 
Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes, 
Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the 

beech. 
O then, ye friends of love and love-taught 

song, 

62 



Spring. 



Spare the soft tribes, this barbarous art for- 
bear, 
If on your bosom innocence can win, 
Music engage, or piety persuade. 

But let not chief the nightingale lament 
Her ruined care, too delicately framed 
To brook the harsh confinement of the cage. 
Oft when, returning with her loaded bill, 
The astonished mother finds a vacant nest, 
By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns 
Robbed, to the ground the vain provision 

falls ; 
Her pinions ruffle, and, low-drooping, scarce 
Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade ; 
Where, all abandoned to despair, she sings 
Her sorrows through the night ; and, on the 

bough 
Sole-sitting, still at every dying fall 
Takes up again her lamentable strain 
Of winding woe ; till, wide around, the woods 
Sigh to her song, and with her wail resound. 
But now the feathered youth their former 
bounds. 
Ardent, disdain ; and, weighing oft their 
wings, 65 



QTfjr Reasons. 



Demand the free possession of the sky. 
This one glad office more, and then dissolves 
Parental love at once, now needless grown : 
Unlavish wisdom never works in vain. 
'T is on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, 
When naught but balm is breathing through 

the woods, 
With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes 
Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad 
On Nature's common, far as they can see, 
Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the 

boughs 
Dancing about, still at the giddy verge 
Their resolution fails ; their pinions still, 
In loose libration stretched, to trust the void 
Trembling refuse ; till down before them fly 
The parent guides, and chide, exhort, com- 
mand, 
Or push them oif. The surging air receives 
The plumy burden ; and their self-taught 

wings 
Winnow the waving element. On ground 
Alighted, bolder up again they lead, 
Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight ; 
66 



spring. 

Till, vanished every fear, and every power 
Roused into life and action, light in air 
The acquitted parents see their soaring race, 
And, once rejoicing, never know them more. 

High from the summit of a craggy cliff, 
Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns 
On utmost Kilda's shore, whose lonely race 
Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds, 
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young. 
Strong-pounced, and ardent with paternal fire. 
Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own. 
He drives them from his fort, the towering 

seat, 
For ages, of his empire ; which, in peace, 
Unstained he holds, while many a league to sea 
He wings his course, and preys in distant 
isles. 
Should I my steps turn to the rural seat, 
Whose lofty elms and venerable oaks 
Invite the rook, who, high amid the boughs, 
In early Spring, his airy city builds, 
And ceaseless caws amusive ; there, well- 
pleased, 
I might the various politv survey 
6?' 



Wi)t Seasons. 



Of the mixed household kind. The careful 

hen 
Calls all her chirping family around. 
Fed and defended by the fearless cock, 
Whose breast with ardour flames as on he 

walks, 
Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond, 
The finely checkered duck, before her train, 
Rows garrulous. The stately-sailing swan 
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale ; 
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet 
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier-isle. 
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh, 
Loud-threatening, reddens ; while the peacock 

spreads 
His every-coloured glory to the sun, 
And swims in radiant majesty along. 
O'er the whole homely scene, the cooing dove 
Flies thick in amourous chase, and wanton 

rolls 
The glancing eye, and turns the changeful 

neck. 
While thus the gentle tenants of the shade 
Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world 
68 



Spring. 

Of brutes, below, rush furious into flame 
And fierce desire. Through all his lusty veins 
The bull, deep-scorched, the raging passion 

feels. 
Of pasture sick, and negligent of food. 
Scarce seen, he wades among the yellow 

broom, 
While o'er his ample sides the rambling sprays 
Luxuriant shoot ; or through the mazy wood 
Dejected wanders, nor the inticing bud 
Crops, though it presses on his careless sense. 
And oft, in jealous maddening fancy wrapt. 
He seeks the fight, and, idly-butting, feigns 
His rival gored in every knotty trunk. 
Him should he meet, the bellowing war 

begins : 
Their eyes flash fury; to the hollowed earth. 
Whence the sand flies, they mutter bloody 

deeds, 
And groaning deep the impetuous battle mix ; 
While the fair heifer, balmy-breathing, near. 
Stands kindling up their rage. The trembling 

steed, 
With this hot impulse seized in every nerve, 
69 



8Hjc Seasons. 



Nor heeds the rein, nor hears the sounding- 
thong ; 
Blows are not felt ; but, tossing high his head, 
And by the well-known joy to distant plains 
Attracted strong, all wild he bursts away ; 
O'er rocks and woods and craggy mountains 

flies ; 
And, neighing, on the aerial summit takes 
The exciting gale ; then, steep-descending, 

cleaves 
The headlong torrents foaming down the hills. 
Even where the madness of the straitened 

stream 
Turns in black eddies round : such is the 

force 
With which his frantic heart and sinews swell. 

Nor undelighted by the boundless Spring 
Are the broad monsters of the foaming deep : 
From the deep ooze and gelid cavern roused, 
They flounce and tumble in unwieldy joy. 
Dire were the strain, and dissonant, to sing 
The cruel raptures of the savage kind : 
How by this flame their native wrath sublimed, 
They roam, amid the fury of their heart, 
70 



Spring* 

The far-resounding waste, in fiercer bands, 
And growl their horrid loves. But this the 

theme 
I sing, enraptured, to the British fair, 







<■ 



Forbids, and leads me to the mountain-brow. 

Where sits the shepherd on the grassy turf, 

7i 



3Hk Seasons. 



Inhaling, healthful, the descending sun. 
Around him feeds his many-bleating flock, 
Of various cadence ; and his sportive lambs, 
This way and that, convolved in friskful glee, 
Their frolics play. And now the sprightly 

race 
Invites them forth ; when swift, the signal 

given, 
They start away, and sweep the massy mound 
That runs around the hill ; the rampart once 
Of iron war, in ancient barbarous times, 
When disunited Britain ever bled, 
Lost in eternal broil : ere yet she grew 
To this deep-laid indissoluble state, 
Where wealth and commerce lift the golden 

head, 
And, o'er our labours, liberty and law, 
Impartial, watch, — the wonder of a world ! 

What is this mighty breath, ye curious, say, 
That, in a powerful language, felt not heard. 
Instructs the fowls of heaven ; and through 

their breast 
These arts of love diffuses ? What, but God ? 
Inspiring God ! who, boundless spirit all, 
72 



<&pttrt0. 

And unremitting energy, pervades. 
Adjusts, sustains, and agitates the whole. 
He, ceaseless, works alone ; and yet alone 
Seems not to work, with such perfection 

framed 
Is this complex, stupendous scheme of things, 
But, though concealed, to every purer eye 
The informing Author in his works appears : 
Chief, lovely Spring, in thee, and thy soft 

scenes, 
The smiling God is seen ; while water, earth, 
And air attest his bounty ; which exalts 
The brute-creation to this finer thought, 
And annual melts their undesigning hearts 
Profusely thus in tenderness and joy. 

Still let my song a nobler note assume, 
And sing the infusive force of Spring on man ; 
When heaven and earth, as if contending, vie 
To raise his being, and serene his soul. 
Can he forbear to join the general smile 
Of Nature ? Can fierce passions vex his breast, 
While every gale is peace, and every grove 
Is melody ? Hence from the bounteous walks 
Of flowing Spring, ye sordid sons of earth, 
73 



&f)c Seasons. 



Hard, and unfeeling of another's woe, 
Or only lavish to yourselves, — away ! 
But come, ye generous minds, in whose wide 

thought. 
Of all his works, creative bounty burns, 
With warmest beam ; and on your open front, 
And liberal eye, sits, from his dark retreat 
Inviting modest want. Nor, till invoked. 
Can restless goodness wait ; your active search 
Leaves no cold wintry corner unexplored ; 
Like silent-working Heaven, surprising oft 
The lonely heart with unexpected good. 
For you the roving spirit of the wind 
Blows Spring abroad; for you the teeming 

clouds 
Descend in gladsome plentv o'er the world ; 
And the sun sheds his kindest rays for you, 
Ye Mower of human race ! In these green 

days. 
Reviving Sickness lifts her languid head ; 
Life flows afresh ; and young-eyed Health 

exalts 
The whole creation round. Contentment 

walks 

74 



spring. 

The sunny glade, and feels an inward bliss 
Spring o'er his mind, beyond the power of 

kings 
To purchase. Pure Serenity apace 
Induces thought, and contemplation still. 
By swift degrees the love of Nature works. 
And warms the bosom ; till at last sublimed 
To rapture, and enthusiastic heat, 
We feel the present Deity, and taste 
The joy of God to see a happy world ! 

These are the sacred feelings of thy heart, 
Thy heart informed by reason's purer ray, 
O Lyttelton, the friend ! thy passions thus 
And meditations vary, as at large, 
Courting the Muse, through Hagley Park you 

stray ; 
Thy British Tempe ! there along the dale, 
With woods o'erhung, and shagged with 

mossy rocks, 
Whence on each hand the gushing waters 

play, 
And clown the rough cascade white-dashing 

fall. 
Or gleam in lengthened vista through the 

trees, 77 



2Tfjr Reasons. 



You silent steal ; or sit beneath the shade 
Of solemn oaks, that tuft the swelling mounts 
Thrown graceful round by Nature's careless 

hand, 
And pensive listen to the various voice 
Of rural peace : the herds, the flocks, the 

birds. 
The hollow-whispering breeze, the plaint of 

rills. 
That, purling down amid the twisted roots 
Which creep around, their dewy murmurs 

shake 
On the soothed ear. From these abstracted 

oft. 
You wander through the philosophic world ; 
Where in bright train continual wonders rise. 
Or to the curious or the pious eye. 
And oft, conducted by historic truth. 
You tread the long extent of backward time . 
Planning, with warm benevolence of mind. 
And honest zeal unwarped by party rage. 
Britannia's weal ; how from the venal gulf 
To raise her virtue, and her arts revive. 
Or, turning thence thy view, these graver 

thoughts 78 



spring. 

The Muses charm : while, with sure taste re- 
fined, 
You draw the inspiring breath of ancient song, 
Till nobly rises, emulous, thy own. 
Perhaps thy loved Lucinda shares thy walk. 
With soul to thine attuned. Then Nature 

all 
Wears to the lover's eye a look of love ; 
And all the tumult of a guilty world, 
Tost by ungenerous passions, sinks away. 
The tender heart is animated peace ; 
And as it pours its copious treasures forth, 
In varied converse, softening every theme, 
You, frequent-pausing, turn, and from her 

eyes, 
Where meekened sense, and amiable grace. 
And lively sweetness dwell, enraptured drink 
That nameless spirit of ethereal joy, 
Inimitable happiness ! which love 
Alone bestows, and on a favoured few. 
Meantime you gain the height, from whose 

fair brow 
The bursting prospect spreads immense 
around ; 

79 



&je Reasons. 



And snatched o'er hill and dale, and wood 

and lawn, 
And verdant field, and darkening heath be- 
tween. 
And villages embosomed soft in trees, 
And spiry towns by surging columns marked 
Of household smoke, your eye excursive 

roams ; 
Wide-stretching from the hall in whose kind 

haunt 
The hospitable genius lingers still, 
To where the broken landscape, by degrees 
Ascending, roughens into rigid hills; 
Cer which the Cambrian mountains, like far 

clouds 
That skirt the blue horizon, dusky, rise. 

Mushed by the spirit of the genial year, 
Now from the virgin's cheek a fresher bloom 
Shoots, less and less, the live carnation round ; 
Her lips blush deeper sweets ; she breathes of 

youth ; 
The shining moisture swells into her eyes 
In brighter flow; her wishing bosom heaves, 
With palpitations wild ; kind tumults seize 
80 



spring. 



Her veins, and all her yielding soul is love. 
From the keen gaze her lover turns away, 
Full of the dear eestatie power, and sick 
With sighing languish ment. Ah then, 

fair! 
Be greatly cautious of your sliding hearts ; 
Dare not the infectious sigh ; the pleadin 

look, 



ye 




Downcast and low, in meek submission 

dressed, 
But full of guile. Let not the fervent tongue 
Prompt to deceive, with adulation smooth, 
Gain on your purposed will. Nor in the 

bower, 

81 



3Tjjc Seasons. 



Where woodbines flaunt, and roses shed a 

couch, 
While Evening draws her crimson curtains 

round, 
Trust your soft minutes with betraying man. 
And let the aspiring youth beware of love. 
Of the smooth glance beware ; for 't is too 

late, 
When on his heart the torrent-softness pours. 
Then wisdom prostrate lies, and fading fame 
Dissolves in air away ; while the fond soul. 
Wrapped in gay visions of unreal bliss, 
Still paints the illusive form, the kindling 

grace, 
The inticing smile, the modest-seeming eye. 
Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying 

Heaven, 
Lurk searchless cunning, cruelty, and death : 
And still, false-warbling in his cheated ear. 
Her siren voice, enchanting, draws him on. 
To guileful shores, and meads of fatal joy. 

Even present, in the very lap of Love 
Inglorious laid, — while music flows around, 
Perfumes, and oils, and wine, and wanton 

hours, — 82 



spring. 

Amid the roses, fierce Repentance rears 
Her snaky crest : a quick-returning pang 
Shoots through the conscious heart ; where 

honour still, 
And great design, against the oppressive load 
Of luxury, by fits, impatient heave. 

But absent, what fantastic woes, aroused, 
Rage in each thought, by restless musing fed, 
Chill the warm cheek, and blast the bloom of 

life ! 
Neglected fortune flies ; and, sliding swift, 
Prone into ruin fall his scorned affairs. 
'T is naught but gloom around. The dark- 
ened sun 
Loses his light. The rosy-bosomed Spring 
To weeping fancy pines ; and yon bright 

arch, 
Contracted, bends into a dusky vault. 
All Nature fades extinct ; and she alone, 
Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every thought, 
Fills every sense, and pants in every vein. 
Books are but formal dulness, tedious friends ; 
And sad amid the social band he sits, 
Lonely and unattentive. From the tongue 
83 



2Tf)c Reasons. 



The unfinished period falls : while borne 

away. 
On swelling thought, his wafted spirit flies 
To the vain bosom of his distant fair; 
And leaves the semblance of a lover, fixed 
In melancholy site, with head declined, 
And love-dejected eyes. Sudden he starts, 
Shook from his tender trance, and, restless, 

runs 
To glimmering shades and sympathetic 

glooms, 
Where the dun umbrage o'er the falling 

stream. 
Romantic, hangs ; there through the pensive 

dusk 
Strays, in heart-thrilling meditation lost, 
Indulging all to love : or on the bank 
Thrown, amid drooping lilies, swells the 

breeze 
With sighs unceasing, and the brook with 

tears . 
Thus in soft anguish he consumes the day, 
Nor quits his deep retirement, till the moon 
Peeps through the chambers of the fleecy 

east, 84 



Spring. 



Enlightened by degrees, and in her train 
Leads on the gentle hours ; then forth he 

walks, 
Beneath the trembling languish of her beam. 
With softened soul, and wooes the bird of 

eve 
To mingle woes with his ; or, while the world 
And all the sons of care lie hushed in sleep, 
Associates with the midnight shadows drear ; 
And, sighing to the lonely taper, pours 
His idly-tortured heart into the page 
Meant for the moving messenger of love ; 
Where rapture burns on rapture, every line 
With rising frenzy fired. But if on bed 
Delirious flung, sleep from his pillow flies. 
All night he tosses, nor the balmy power 
In any posture finds ; till the gray morn 
Lifts her pale lustre on the paler wretch, 
Examinate by love : and then perhaps 
Exhausted nature sinks awhile to rest, 
Still interrupted by distracted dreams, 
That o 1 er the sick imagination rise. 
And in black colours paint the mimic scene. 
Oft with the enchantress of his soul he talks; 
87 



flTfjc Reasons. 



Sometimes in crowds distressed ; or, if retired 
To secret-winding flower-enwoven bowers 
Far from the dull impertinence of man, 
Just as he, credulous, his endless cares 
Begins to lose in blind oblivious love, 
Snatched from her yielded hand, he knows 

not how, 
Through forests huge, and long untravelled 

heaths 
With desolation brown, he wanders waste, 
In night and tempest wrapt; or shrinks 

aghast, 
Back from the bending precipice ; or wades 
The turbid stream below, and strives to reach 
The farther shore, where, succourless and sad, 
She with extended arms his aid implores ; 
But strives in vain ; borne by the outrageous 

flood 
To distance down, he rides the ridgy wave. 
Or, whelmed beneath the boiling eddy, sinks. 
These are the charming agonies of love. 
Whose misery delights. But through the 

heart 
Should jealousy its venom once diffuse. 




nNr 4 >. 




spring. 

'T is then delightful misery no more, 
But agony unmixed, incessant gall, 
Corroding every thought, and blasting all 
Love's Paradise. Ye fairy prospects, then, 
Ye beds of roses, and ye bowers of joy. 
Farewell ! ye gleamings of departed peace, 
Shine out your last ! the yellow-tingeing 

plague 
Internal vision taints, and in a night 
Of livid gloom imagination wraps. 
Ah then, instead of love-enlivened cheeks, 
Of sunny features, and of ardent eves 
With flowing rapture bright, dark looks suc- 
ceed, 
Suffused, and glaring with untender fire, — 
A clouded aspect, and a burning cheek, 
Where the whole poisoned soul, malignant, 

sits. 
And frightens love away. Ten thousand 

fears 
Invented wild, ten thousand frantic views 
Of horrid rivals, hanging on the charms 
For which he melts in fondness, eat him up 
With fervent anguish and consuming rage. 
9i 



Cf)£ Seasons. 



In vain reproaches lend their idle aid, 
Deceitful pride, and resolution frail, 
Giving false peace a moment. Fancy pours, 
Afresh, her beauties on his busy thought, 
Her first endearments twining round the soul 
With'all the witchcraft of ensnaring love. 
Straight the fierce storm involves his mind 

anew, 
Flames through the nerves, and boils along 

the veins ; 
While anxious doubt distracts the tortured 

heart : 
For even the sad assurance of his fears 
Were peace to what he feels. Thus the warm 

youth, 
Whom love deludes into his thorny wilds, 
Through flowery-tempting paths, or leads a 

life 
Of fevered rapture, or of cruel care ; 
His brightest aims extinguished all, and all 
His lively moments running clown to waste. 

But happy they, the happiest of their kind ! 
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate 
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings 



blend. 92 



spring. 

'T is not the coarser tie of human laws, 
Unnatural oft, and foreign to the mind, 
That binds their peace, but harmony itself, 
Attuning all their passions into love ; 
Where friendship full-exerts her softest power, 
Perfect esteem enlivened by desire 
Ineffable, and sympathy of soul ; 
Thought meeting thought, and will prevent- 
ing will, 
With boundless confidence : for naught but 

love 
Can answer love, and render bliss secure. 
Let him, ungenerous, who, alone intent 
To bless himself, from sordid parents buys 
The loathing virgin, in eternal care, 
Well-merited, consume his nights and days ; 
Let barbarous nations, whose inhuman love 
Is wild desire, fierce as the suns they feel ; 
Let Eastern tyrants from the light of heaven 
Seclude their bosom-slaves, meanly possessed 
Of a mere lifeless, violated form : 
While those whom love cements in holy faith? 
And equal transport, free as Nature live, 
Disdaining fear. What is the world to them, 
93 



GTfjc J5rascms. 



Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense all ! 
Who in each other clasp whatever fair 
High fancy forms, and lavish hearts can wish ; 
Something than beauty dearer, should they 

look 
Or on the mind, or mind-illumined face, — 
Truth, goodness, honour, harmony, and love. 
The richest bounty of indulgent Heaven. 
Meantime a smiling offspring rises round, 
And mingles both their graces. By degrees, 
The human blossom blows ; and every day, 
Soft as it rolls along, shows some new 

charm, — 
The father's lustre and the mother's bloom. 
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls 
For the kind hand of an assiduous care. 
Delightful task ! to rear the tender thought. 
To teach the young idea how to shoot, 
To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind, 
To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix 
The generous purpose in the glowing breast. 
O, speak the joy, ye, whom the sudden tear 
Surprises often, while you look around. 
And nothing strikes your eye but sights of 

bliss ; 94 



•Spring. 



All various Nature pressing on the heart, — 
An elegant sufficiency, content, 
Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books, 
Ease and alternate labour, useful life, 
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven ! 
These are the matchless joys of virtuous love ; 
And thus their moments fly. The seasons 

thus, 
As ceaseless round a jarring world they roll, 
Still find them happy ; and consenting Spring 
Sheds her own rosy garland on their heads : 
Till evening comes at last, serene and mild ; 
When after the long vernal day of life, 
Enamoured more, as more remembrance swells 
With many a proof of recollected love, 
Together down they sink, in social sleep ; 
Together freed, their gentle spirits fly 
To scenes where love and bliss immortal 

reign. 

95 



THE END. 



W 19 




^o" 







^v 



<**■ 



'£&— /life ^'Sim* 






• .0° 






a* . 




^ A* ♦ 




















^*...' ,««" °o 

,a, Deacidified using the Bookkeeper procej 

*$* Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

*<^ Treatment Date: March 2009 

v % °*™*' «& PreservationTechnologie 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATII 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 1 6066 
<724} 779-2111 








• v ' • ♦ ^ ,cr & • • • 



F © 

ft 



c* • 




* 
CT 

























A w ^ * • • • A 















>bv x 









V. 











